The Tragic Illness
by jbutton
Summary: Michael Gallant is hidng a secret about his health that his colleagues don't know about, a illness that is threatening his life. Along with other serious problems,he doesn't know if he can handle alone. Will he tell,before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, except for the storyline is all mine. The E.R Show and characters are owned by creator Michael Crichton and the NBC television station. In my story Michael Gallant and Gregory Pratt are friends along with Luka Kovac who is friends with John Carter and they both are friends with Abby along with her being friends with the both of them also Susan is friends with all of them, Neela is Michael Gallant's love interest. In the story sometimes I will call the main character either by his last name "Gallant" or "Mike" short for his first name Michael so that I won't be repeating the same word over again during the character dialog.

Characters: Michael Gallant, Gregory Pratt, Ray Barnett, Susan Lewis, John Carter, Luka Kovac, Abby Lockhart, Neela Rasgotra, Samantha Taggart, Kerry Weaver, Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen, Lydia, Yosh, Chuny, Haleh, Malik, Frank, Robert "Rocket" Romano and Elizabeth Corday.

Episode: "The Tragic Illness"

Show Introduction:

The story starts off in Michael Gallant's apartment at 3 A.M. he is in the bathroom throwing up his dinner from yesterday evening even though he was sick he knew that missing work wasn't an option since at 10 A.M. he had a mandatory medical conference to attend to with some of his fellow colleagues in downtown at the Chicago Conference Center for work, after a few minutes later Gallant went back to bed only to wake up at 10 A.M. for his day to begin. Earlier in the week when Gallant noticed various symptoms he's been having, he decided to look them up in his medical books. Lately he'd been having pounding headaches, sweating a lot, chills, lightheadedness, blurred vision, constant dizzy spells, body bruising, loss of balance and falling down a lot, along with vomiting likehe just had a few minutes ago. He found out what the symptoms meant and dreaded the conclusion which meant CANCER. He knew that cancer wasn't good, but he was too afraid of the outcome if he was right, and didn't want his friend's who are his colleagues to know and worry about him if his suspicions were right. He had been able to hide his symptoms so far during the week, and when anyone asked if he was feeling okay because of the way he looked or was acting he just made up excuses for his problems like blaming the headaches on stress; lightheadedness and dizzy spells on not eat enough during the day, along with the blurred vision saying it was just allergies from the cold weather. Gallant hid the signs pretty easily, no one suspected a thing.

Around 9 A.M. Gallant got ready for work while walking to the El Train he noticed that it was snowing and getting colder outside as winter was just beginning, he got off the El Train down the street from his intended destination so he walked to the building lobby along with his colleagues arriving by 10 A.M. at the Medical Conference Center for his mandatory seminar with his fellow colleagues Dr.'s Susan Lewis, Ray Barnett, and Gregory Pratt who is Michael's best friend along with Dr. John Carter, who was going to try to attend the seminar after his shift at the hospital. The two doctors entered the auditorium, which is packed full so they have to stand in the back of the room during the other doctor's presentations. Ray and Greg left Susan and Gallant, they decided to checkout another medical seminar in the other conference room down the hall. While Dr. Lewis and Gallant observe the main seminar presentations standing against the wall in the back of the room.

Gallant was watching the presentations when he got the feeling he was going to be sick, and he knew that the closest restroom was next to the auditorium and that he had to get there quick.

Gallant: "Excuse me, I'll be right back"

Susan: "Okay"

Gallant closed the restroom door, and made his way to the stall and started to get sick…

Gallant: "Blah... blahg yuck, blahg eew blahg blah"


	2. Chapter 2

Theme song plays…

Chapter 2:

It had been over 30 minutes and she could hear someone being sick through the thin walls in the restroom, and Susan was wondering if Gallant was coming back and if he was okay. Susan found the restroom and knocked on the door, Gallant heard her and knew he had to go back out, he was done for now.

Susan: "Gallant, you in there" Gallant washes up and comes out.

Susan: "Are you okay" looking worried.

Gallant: "Yeah, I think I'm just getting a cold or a touch of the flu" he lied.

Susan: "Well if you're really not feeling good then maybe you should go home and get some rest"

Susan: "I'll talk to Weaver for you, explain that you were sick and went home, see if you can make up the missed work hours when your better." "And I can see if she can get someone to cover your shift if you need it."

Susan: "You look kind of pale" "Go home and get some rest"

Gallant: "No that's ok, I'm fine" "I'm just gonna get some air"

Susan: "Alright"

Gallant goes out the doors into the hall, he's looking down the hallway at a picture on the wall when his vision started getting blurry, he blinked a few times but it didn't help, his head starts pounding really badly and feels like it might explode from the pain. Then he gets a strange feeling like when you get the wind knocked out of you and he couldn't catch his breath, he was having trouble breathing and knew this wasn't good, his throat becomes dry and he tries to yell but he couldn't call Susan or anyone to help him.

Then he notices that his ears seem plugged and having trouble hearing everything, he begins to loose focus; he can't hear anything, the noises around him turns into a jumble of soft sounds and couldn't make out anything that's happening around him. His head begins to throb even more, and all of a sudden he gets really dizzy knowing another spell is coming on. He put his fingers on both sides of his temple and rubs it to try and stop the pain.

Gallant: "Ow" his hands clutching his head as the pain gets worse.

Still getting lightheaded and dizzy, he walks wobbly back and forth slamming his right side and knee hard into the wall, now feeling a even more sensation of sharp pain all in his right side and knee which begins to radiate through his body, and the room still starts spinning faster and faster, while he begins loosing his balance, starting to free fall down to the floor, and everything goes black.

When all of this is happening Ray and Pratt are coming down the hall towards him from their end seminar, they are talking about information of procedures when they look up; hear someone yell slightly in pain. They see Gallant wobbly standing a few feet from them holding his head, eyes squeezed in obvious pain. He's unsteadily walking from side to side; he then slams his right side and knee into the wall pretty hard making a loud whack noise. They both look at Gallant a few feet in front of them, seeing the way that he's standing and walking, that something isn't right.

Ray: "What the…"

They both see him hit the wall, step wobbly to the left a little bit and then collapse to the floor...

Pratt: "Mike!" "Hang on, were coming!" he yells and they both run over to him.

While all of this is happening John Carter decides to stop by and see how the seminar is, he enters from a side entrance of the auditorium not knowing what is going on in the lobby.

He sees Susan standing against the side wall and goes over to talk to her.

Susan: "Hi, Carter decided to join us"

Carter: "Hey Susan, I just thought I'd see how things were going after my shift"

Susan: "Hmm" looking at her watch wondering where Gallant got to.

Carter: "What's wrong?"

Susan: "Oh nothing, Gallant left to get some fresh air, he looked like he wasn't feeling well" "I mentioned that he should go home and get some rest, but he said that he was fine and then left, its been a good half hour to an hour and he hasn't been back"

Carter: "If he's smart he probably already left, you know how boring these seminars can be."

Susan: "Yeah, your probably right" so she stopped worrying about it.

They both try to get interested in the presentations, since Susan is stuck there even though she doesn't want to be, so Carter decides to keep her company and stay anyways, for a while before he has to return in a few hours for his night shift back at the hospital.

While back in the lobby Ray and Pratt are trying to figure out what is wrong with Gallant and help him.

Ray and Pratt are now kneeling next Gallant on his left side, looking at him to see what's wrong.

They see that his right knee is twisted out of place. Pratt feels his neck for a pulse and gets a very weak, slow pulse in response.

Pratt: "Mike" "Mike wake up" He taps Gallant on the cheek to see if he will open his eyes or get a response from the patient, his friend.

Ray: "No response"

Pratt: "No" he says looking worried.

Ray: "Remember don't move him, looks like he hit his head pretty hard" "He could have a concussion"

Pratt: "The way he fell, he probably does"

Pratt moves over the Gallant's right side to look over his knee.

Ray: "I'll check his right side"

Pratt: "Alright, I'll do the left"

Ray: "Looks like his right knee is dislocated, do you think we should try and put it back in place"

Pratt: "No, I don't think so" "It looks like a more complicated injury than that"

Gallant slowly opens his eyes and sees Pratt and Ray hovering above him, he's confused about what happened and begins getting a heavy feeling in his chest. He tries to ask what happened and can't breathe.

Ray looks over at Pratt.

Ray: "Pratt, he's awake" Pratt looks down at Gallant.

Pratt: "Mike, what happened?" Gallant tries to sit up.

Pratt: "No, Mike lay down and stay still" "You may have a concussion"

Ray: "You fell and hit the floor pretty hard"

Pratt: "Your right knee is dislocated; I need to put some pressure on it to see how bad it is?"

Gallant tries to tell them but it hurts too much to breathe let alone talk. He opens his mouth but sound doesn't come out.

Pratt: "What?" "Is it hard for you to breathe?" "Um, blink once for yes and twice for no"

Gallant does what he says and blinks once for yes.

Ray: "Mike, Look at me" Gallant then moves his eyes and looks at Ray.

Ray: "Can you follow my finger with your eyes" Mike blinks for yes.

Ray: "Okay" Ray moves his finger right to left and then up and down, with Mike following the movement with his eyes.

Ray: "Good Mike"

Pratt: "Okay, Mike now look over here" Mike looks at him.

Pratt: "Alright, Mike I need to put pressure on your knee" Mike blinks yes. Pratt: "Tell me if this hurts" Pratt carefully but firmly puts pressure on the knee. Mike blinks yes and then squeezes his eyes really tight, showing that he's really in pain.

Pratt: "Sorry Mike" He blinks once, Pratt: "I know you're telling me its ok" Pratt is looking at Mike.

Pratt: "Where's the seminar that Dr. Lewis is attending" he asks Ray.

Ray: "Double doors, at the end of the hall, I think" "Are you sure?"

Ray thinks for a minute then says. "Yeah, I'm sure that's where she is"

Pratt: "Alright, I'm gonna get Dr. Lewis"

Ray: "Okay, hurry"

Pratt gets up to run down the hall to the auditorium doors to get Dr. Lewis and tell her what's happening to Gallant.

Suddenly Mike's eyes twitch and then they roll back into his head, and his body is violently twitching and thrashing around without any control over it.

Ray looks up at Pratt and tell him to stop and come back..

Ray: "Wait, Greg" "He's seizing"

Pratt: "What!"

Pratt: "Oh, Crap"

Pratt then rushes back over to Mike's right side and tries to help Ray hold him down and still so he doesn't hurt himself even more while he's having the seizure. Pratt remembers that he should move up to Mike's head and hold it along with his neck straight, in case it's broken. But he is still struggling with Ray to hold the rest of the body down and he knows that Ray can't handle that alone. So he tells Ray that they need to get more help.

Pratt: "We gotta get help somehow"

Then Pratt begins to yell loudly so that someone can help them.

Pratt: "DR. LEWIS! WE NEED SOME HELP, DR. LEWIS, HELP!"

Susan: "Carter do you hear that?"

Carter: "It sounds like Pratt yelling" "Where's it coming from?"

Susan: "It sounds like he's out in the hall"

Susan: "Let's see what's wrong"

Susan and Carter both run out the auditorium doors, they see Ray and Pratt hovering over and holding down Gallant who's laying on the floor in convulsions. Ray kneeling down on their friend's left side and struggling to hold Gallant's left side and leg still while the shaking continued. Pratt was on the right side holding that side and leg above the knee down the best that he could, knowing he still needed to get to the man's head to stop it from shaking anymore but couldn't.

Susan: "It-Its Gallant!"

Carter: "What the heck?"

They both rush over to help, kneeling down on Gallant's right side.

Carter: "Ray, Pratt what happened?" "How long has he been seizing?"

Ray: "Uh, 20…30 minutes"

Carter: "Hopefully, it should stop soon"

Susan: "What happened?"

Carter near right shoulder, Susan near right side body, Ray left side near stomach Pratt left shoulder then moves too hold head and neck straight.

Carter: "Ray, keep holding him still" "Susan take over for Pratt, and Pratt go over near his left shoulder, try to keep him calm when he wakes up" "I'll hold his head and keep his head and neck straight"

Carter: "Susan, get my cell in the front shirt pocket and call 911"

Susan: "Okay"

(Susan calling 911): "I need an ambulance right away, my friend is seriously hurt! I'm a doctor along with three other doctors; our hurt friend's also a doctor at County General and he needs help immediately!" "I'm at the Chicago Conference Center downtown on 212 Main Street Boulevard and please hurry!"

Susan: "Ambulance is on its way"

Carter: "Good"

Carter: "Guys, What…"

Pratt looking at Carter and Susan remembering the details of what happened to his friend, explaining what he and Ray saw before and after Gallant collapsed.

Pratt: "Um, me and Ray were walking down here after the seminar and we saw him standing holding his hands to his head and kind of shout in pain" "Then he started wobbly walking to the right slamming pretty hard into the wall with his right knee and side, then he barely took to steps left and collapsed to the ground."

Ray: "We rushed over when we saw him fall to the floor, he was awake then, and we saw that his right knee was dislocated" "I asked him what happened, he couldn't tell me, I asked him if he was having trouble breathing and I told him to blink his eyes for yes and he did" "I told him it would be okay and that I needed to check his knee, blinked yes and I did he closed his eyes in pain when I touched it" "He seemed ok except that he couldn't talk and was having trouble breathing" "I was gonna get you Dr. Lewis, and then I got up to leave and that's when he started seizing so I yelled for you"

Susan: "Thanks guys for explaining"

Pratt: "No problem Dr. Lewis"

Carter: "Has he had any other symptoms?"

Ray and Pratt think for a minute.

Pratt: "No"

Ray: "We didn't notice anything else, just what we said"

Carter: "Okay"

Susan: "Yes!"

Carter: "Susan?" he says looking confused at her outburst.

Susan: "He was in the restroom throwing up, for over 30 minutes"

Carter: "When?"

Susan: "About half an hour to an hour ago"

Carter: "Okay, so we know that he vomited, became lightheaded, dizzy, couldn't keep his balance, head pain, trouble breathing, possible concussion, some dislocated, fractured broken bones, and seized" "All these symptoms can't be good"

Then slowly they noticed that Gallant's body stopped violently shaking, seizure had subsided and the four of them could relax for now. And now continue to check over him for other unnoticed injuries that he could have. Susan looked at Carter and saw it too, Gallant stopped seizing but his eyes were still closed. Carter knew that his next step was to check Mike's eyes to see if he was responsive to anything then he remembered that he had left the hospital still wearing his lab coat, too exhausted from his shift to change, and knowing he'd be back for another shift in a few hours so he just decided to leave for the medical seminar. Remembering this he reached into the pocket and found his penlight and then began to lift each eye lid shining the light in the pupils, then moving the penlight back and forth to get a response.

Carter: "Pupils are dilated and unresponsive"

Susan: "That's not good"

Ray knowing that his vision has been impaired, he still knew that he had to continue the exam.

Ray: "I'll check the rest of him over"

Ray unbuttons the last buttons of Gallant's dress shirt loosening it which then slightly raises the shirt underneath, and Ray looks down, his hands ready to put pressure on the area to check his fellow colleague for any other injuries. When he looks down and then stops from proceeding in doing the exam when he sees that something isn't right. He becomes confused while looking down at his friend and sees a frightening sight.

It was a gross, and sickening massively sized purplish spot against Gallant's darkened skin and then another small spot near the first. Ray still confused and now curious looks up to talk to Carter. Looking up at Carter, with a puzzled look on his face he says.

Ray: "Dr. Carter?" Carter looks at him.

Carter: "What, Ray?"

Ray: "I think I found something" Carter looks at Ray waiting for him to explain.

Ray: "He has some bad bruises on his side and stomach!"

Carter: "What?"

He then looks to where Ray had pulled the shirt back and sure enough on Mike's stomach there was a large purple looking mass.

Ray: "There's a small one on his side too.

Carter: "Okay" he says hesitantly.

Carter: "We need to get his shirt off to see if there's anymore"

Then Carter begins looking in the pockets of his lab coat and surprisingly finds a pair of suturing scissors, not remembering how they got there and not really caring either. He pulls them out ready to use, and waits for Ray to undo the rest of the shirt buttons up to his neck, Susan then looks at Carter kind of confused but he just shrugs. Ray cautiously but quickly begins unbuttoning the rest of the shirt so then Carter can cut the other one off in search of other problems. Ray then pulls back the dress shirt and sees another largely formed bruise on Mike's left shoulder, with the rest covered by the second layer. Carter then moves down with the scissors to Gallant's waistline and starts cutting the shirt all the way up to his neck, puts the scissors down and then opens the shirt to reveal more bruising on his body, the large bruise on Gallant's stomach goes from the waistline up and ends a little bit below the chest bone. The bruise from his left shoulder that was hidden under the shirt is now visible and everyone can see how bad it really is, it starts at the front of the shoulder and has spread over Gallant's chest, down to the stomach and ends a little bit before the other bruise begins, also from the left shoulder the mass spreads all the way across to the right side ending at the ribs on his body.

Susan: "Oh My God!" She glances at Carter and then begins to look away, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

Susan: "I think, I'm going to be sick!"

Pratt: "Jeez" he says as he shakes his head at the horrible site that's in front of him, his friend being this injured and in harms way by a force that is unknown to any of them.

Ray: "What happened to him?"

Susan then gets up and walks a few steps away to compose herself. (Susan says to herself):"Just breathe in and out, in and out" then she goes back over to the gang.

Carter: "Susan, you okay?"

Susan: "Yeah, Carter I'm fine" "Just shocked, that's all"

Carter: "I know what you mean" he says looking at the med-student who they work with, hurt and not moving lying on the floor.

Pratt: "Dr. Lewis, Dr. Carter is he going to be okay?"

Susan: "I hope so Pratt, I hope so…"


End file.
